A multimedia
collaboration between sax player/composer Christoph Gallio and filmmaker Beat
Streuli, delivered as a CD+DVD package (CD and DVD have the same audio track).
The music is designed as a single 49-minute piece made of 72 very short
fragments (a few seconds to a couple of minutes). This form of composition is
something Gallio excells at – see the two CDs from his project Mösiöblö.
Gallio’s group here includes Andrea Neumann (inside piano), Ernst Thoma
(synth), Dominique Girod (double bass), and Julian Sartorius (drums) – a
stellar team. There are also several samples. The film part adopts a similar
form: a series of short moments: raw footage filmed in the city, near roadwork
sites, in extreme close-ups. We see details of idling cars, building windows,
and passers-by. The audio and the video fragments don’t sync – both strings
follow their own path, but their being together forms an intriguing
proposition. However, the music stands perfectly well on its own. In fact,
since it is fragmentary in nature and has many surprises in store for the
listener, it could be compared to Québécois musique actuelle – I’m thinking of
suites by Jean Derome, Robert Marcel Lepage, or even Michel F. Côté.[Below: An excerpt from the DVD.]

Spanish guitarist
Dusan Jevtovic is a newcomer on Moonjune Records. This trio CD (with Bernat
Hernandez on bass and Marko Djordevic on drums) sticks mostly to the jazz-rock
power trio formula. Except for “Embracing Simplicity,” a stunning piece where a
very simple, yearning melody takes us on a highly emotional ride. On the rest
of the album, Jevtovic strikes a sound balance between prowess and
intelligence. The album also shows a sense of humour, but I don’t have much
interest for this brand of jazz-rock.

Second solo album
by Indonesian guitarist Dewa Budjana on Moonjune (his fourth overall). Once
again backed by American musicians (Larry Goldings, Bob Mintzer, Jimmy Johnson,
Peter Erskine), but no Indonesian musicians to expand the sound palette this
time (there were 20 in all featured on Dawai in Paradise). So this one doesn’t have the
“exotic/world music” element. Too bad. That being said, Budjana has fine
compositional skills and a nicely flowing playing style. The rhythm section
supports him rather well, and Goldings remains a top jazz organist, but
Mintzer’s saxes and clarinets are too shmaltzy for my taste. As for singer
Janis Siegel’s guest appearance on “As You Leave My Nest”… way too sentimental
for me, even though her lyrics are moving. So I have mixed feelings about this
CD, mostly because of Budjana’s insistence on sounding like an American
jazzman…